Trending: Wellness Festivals

These fests offer more than music.

As Coachella wraps up this weekend, we have summer music festivals on the brain. But other than planning for the big ones like Lollapalooza and Governors Ball, it's also a good time to consider wellness festivals. Music is a big part of these events, but the focus also includes healthy living, nature, mental clarity, interpersonal connectedness, and more.

Sean Hoess, co-founder of Wanderlust—a yoga-centric, international wellness festival circuit—says his team’s idea was born of shifting priorities: “As we got a bit older, we started to care more about our health, about living and eating well," he says.

Founded in 2009, Wanderlust now has 30 international single-day wellness festivals—these Wanderlust 108s are field days that feature meditation, 5K runs, yoga, workshops, healthy food markets with local crafts, and more. There's also seven multi-day Wanderlust Festivals in the U.S., Canada, and Australia that last an entire weekend and incorporate the personality of each location—Vermont’s rugged terrain, or Australia’s Queensland coastline, for example—plus music headliners, expert panels, bike excursions, and all of the benefits of the smaller “Wanderlust 108” events.

Says Hoess of why wellness festivals are so successful: “They promote an entire lifestyle. People are drawn to these kinds of events because they feel so connected to the greater intent.”

Here, some other fests that promote personal and communal wellness:

Lightning in a Bottle

With headliners like Chet Faker, Grimes, and Jamie xx, this fest is a hit with music fans, but it also has an eco-friendly aim: Festival workshops and panels focusing on green energy and conscious consumption of resources. This year's event takes place during Memorial Day weekend in Bradley, CA.

Envision Festival

This four-day event in the lush tropics of Costa Rica celebrates performance art, music, nature, wellness education, and meditation. It takes place every February, and tickets for the 2017 fest are already on sale.

Telluride Yoga Festival

Telluride, CO is a festival town, hosting a famous Bluegrass music fest and a prestigious film fest each summer, and there are also gatherings for more niche interests like mushrooms (the wild kind) and skiing. This one (taking place July 21–24) is for yogis new and experienced, providing four days of classes, panels, music, hiking, and food at the foot of the breathtaking San Juan Mountains.

ARISE Music Festival

If there’s a wellness fest that most resembles Burning Man, this one is it—but thankfully it’s a far less grueling commitment. Attendees set up camp each August in Loveland, CO and visit wellness and sustainability workshops, yoga classes, and art installations as they await evening headliners like Ziggy Marley and Jurassic 5.

Further Future

We take that back. This might be the closest thing to Burning Man. Further Future pops up each spring (around the end of April) near the Moapa River Indian Reservation in Nevada, and the weekend focuses on gastronomy, wellness, music, art, conversation, and community. Further Future wants participants to focus on empowering the direction of our planet, and promoting kindness and wellness to each other.